Walkway, particularly for rail cars



0V., M, l1939. T. .1. JOYCE ET Al. 21179'634 WALKWAY, PARTICULARLY FORRAIL CARS Filed Aug. 5, 1951' INVENTORS 5-F1y'7 F n 8 Thomas Joyce &

m 5l 55 3.5' 31 35 J3 `Thomas wDelant-y v a,

n @my A mjwm' Patented Nov. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENTA OFFICEWALKWAY, PARTICULARLY FOR RAIL CARS Pennsylvania Application August 3,1937, Serial No. 157,086

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a running-board or walkway such as is employedon the roofs of box cars to facilitate the movement of trainmenthereover.

Running-boards have usually been constructed by securing wooden plankingto wooden saddles shaped to t over the ridge of the car rgof and suchconstruction has been widely used,'despite its obvious disadvantages andvarious efforts to provide an improved construction. Among thedisadvantages of the construction described may be mentioned therelatively rapid deterioration and the tendency to accumulate snow andice during the Winter season, both of which present a serious hazard totrainmen. While efforts have been made to provide walkways of metalgrating which would avoid, to a large extent, both the relatively rapiddeterioration and the snow and ice accumulation characteristic of thewooden running-board, and also walkways of metal plates, none of thoseheretofore proposed have been used to any considerable extent, so far asI am aware. This is probably because of the fact that they utilizebolted constructions which tend to become loose as a result of thesevere vibration to which railway rolling stock is subject in operation.

We have invented a novel running-board for rail cars which obvates theaforementioned disadvantages of both the present Wooden runningboardsand the metal plate or grating runningboards which have been previouslyproposed. In accordance with our invention, we employ a grating composedof longitudinal and transverse bars which are permanently locked into anintegral assembly, without the use of bolts. Supporting saddles adaptedto t over the ridge of a car roof are secured to the running-board inthe same manner as the bars thereof are secured together. 'I'hisprovides in eiect, a one-piece structure which can be secured to a carroof in any convenient manner and is not subject to loosening atthejoints as a result of vibration, shock, weathering, or the like.

A preferred embodiment of the invention and modifications thereof areillustrated in the accompanying drawing to which reference is made inthe following detailed description. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a partial side elevation of a box car having the running-boardof our invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan view of the runningboard to enlarged scale;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of Fig. 2, thecar itself being shown in end elevation, partly broken away;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV--IV of Fig. 3,illustrating an optional feature;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing a modied construction.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing a further modification; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII of Fig. 7.

A box car I has side walls II, end walls I2 and a roof I3. Arunning-board I4' extends along the roof and is Acomposed of gratingsections I5. The grating sections are supported on spaced saddles I6 inthe form of channels suitably shaped. Other types of structural shapessuch as angles, Ts, etc., may be used as saddles instead of channels.The sections I adjacent the end walls I2 of the car overhang the latterand are supported on an angle I1 carried on strap iron brackets I8. Thisangle may be replaced by a channel such as that shown at I6, secured tothe brackets I8.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the grating sections I5 are composed oflongitudinal bars I9 and transverse bars 20 assembled in the mannershown in Nagin Patent No. 1,693,399. t0 fOrm what is known to the tradeas Tri-lok grating. As more fully disclosed in said patent, thelongitudinal bars have slots therein for receiving the transverse bars,the lower ends of the slots being canted or offset whereby to deform thelower edges of the transverse bars when the latter are pressed into theslots. longitudinal bars are canted in opposite directions so` that whenthe grating is complete, the longitudinal and transverse bars arepermanently and integrally locked together.

The saddles I6, as before stated, are composed of channels and havetheir ends 2I bent downwardly to engage the car roof, the mid-portion ofthe saddles being effective for supporting the grating sections over andabove the ridge of the roof. The webs of the channels preferably haveholes or slots (not shown) for the purpose of drainage. 'I'he flanges ofthe channels are slotted to receive the longitudinal bars I9, as shownat 22, in the same manner that the longitudinal bars are slotted toreceive the transverse bars 20. Thus when the longitudinal bars arepressed into the slots of the channel anges, the bars are slightlydeformed by the oppositely directed oiset lower ends of the slots, asplainly The slots of adjacent' shown in Fig. 2, and the entire gratingassembly is thereby permanently secured to the saddles and the resultingstructure is, in effect, unitary and integral. The slots in the channelsmay be made deep enough to permit peening them over the longitudinalbars after the latter have been forced therein, to prevent theirremoval.

The saddles I6 may be secured to the car roof in any convenient manner.If desired, the longitudinal bars I9 or transverse bars 20, or both, maybe notched or serrated, as shown at 23 in Fig. 4, to provide a non-skidtread surface.4 Fig. 4 clearly shows 'the slots in the longitudinal barsI9 for receiving the transverse bars 20 and the manner in which thelatter are deformed slightly as pressed in the slots.

Fig. shows a slightly modified form of running-board, although it is thesame in principle as that of Figs. 1 to 3. The grating section shown inFig. 5 is composed of longitudinal bars I9' and transverse bars 20assembled in the manner already described. The only difference betweenthe modification of Figs. 5 and 6 and the structure of Figs. l to 3 isin the means for supporting the grating section above the car roof. Inmodication of Figs. 5 and 6, this means takes the form of bars 25 havingtheir upper edges slotted in the same manner as the iianges of thechannels forming the saddles I6. Angle brackets 26 are secured to thecar roof on opposite sides of the ridge and have their vertical legsslotted to receive the ends of the bars 25. These ends are bent overafter passing through the slots as shown at 21. The assembly of theparts is preferably effected before installation on the car and thelongitudinal and transverse bars I9 and 2D' are thereby made integral. Asimilar permanent union of the supporting bars 25 with the longitudinalbars I9' is likewise obtained. The slots in the bars 25 which receivethe 'longitudinal bars I9 are indicated at 22'.

Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate a further modication in which the saddles arein the form of T-b'ars 30, having their ends depressed in the samemanner as the channels I6. Longitudinal bars 3| are pressed into slots32 formed in the stem of the T and are correspondingly slotted, as at33, for receiving transverse bars 34. Certain of the longitudinal bars,such as the central and outside ones, are of greater depth than theothers. The central one, for example, appears at 35 and is slotted, asat 36, to receive the stem of the T below the bottom of the slot 32 inwhich the bar is positioned. This locks the stem of the T againstlateral deflection.

It will be apparent from the foregoing descrip- 'tion that the inventionprovides a novel and highly advantageous running-board for rail cars.The gratingsections are sufliciently open to prevent accumulations ofsnow or rain, but are suiiiciently close to provide a safe treadsurface. It is obvious, furthermore, that the edges of the longitudinaland transverse bars provide a safer tread, from the standpoint ofskidding, than wooden planking or metal plates, even Without the specialnon-skid edges shown in Fig. 4. 'I'he special safety featureincorporated into this running-board is that after ice or snow forms toa depth suilcient to cover the board, the tread is the first partexposed when the ice and snow melts, whereas on the other types thewalking surface is exposed last. The running-board of my invention isnot subject to rapid deterioration, if kept properly painted. As thereare no bolted joints to loosen, vibration does not cause separation ofthe members, the grating bars being permanently locked together by anactual deformation of the parts thereof. The grating sections, as awhole, are just as firmly secured to the supporting saddles as thegrating bars are secured to each other.

While we have illustrated grating sections composed of bars securedtogether in the manner disclosed in the aforesaid Nagin patent, it willbe apparent that the bars may be otherwise secured together, as bywelding, so long as a permanent integral union between the bars formingthe grating section and between the supporting saddles and thelongitudinal grating bars is ob-` tained. Other departures from theprecise details illustrated and described may, of course, be made withinthe principle of our invention and the scope of the appended claims.Although the invention has been described as applied to running boards`for cars, it may also be used wherever a walkway is needed.

We claim:

1. A running board construction comprising a grating includinglongitudinal bars provided with slots, transverse bars including loweredge portions disposed within the said slots and deformed thereby so asto interlock the said transverse and longitucnal bars together, andmeans for attaching the said grating to a supporting structure,r saidattaching means including supporting members extending substantiallyparallel to the said transverse bars below the latter, each of the vsaidsupporting members having notches formed in its upper edge and the saidlongitudinal bars having portions disposed in the said notches in thesaid supporting members and deformed thereby so as to interlock the saidgrating and the said supporting members together, said attaching meansalso including brackets for attaching the said supporting members to thesaid supporting structure and each of the said brackets having anopening formed therein, and each of the said supporting membersincluding angled end portions extended through the said openings in thesaid brackets so as to secure the said supporting members and the saidbrackets together.

2. A running board construction comprising a grating includinglongitudinal bars provided with slots, transverse bars including loweredge portions disposed within the said slots and deformed thereby so asto interlock the said longitudinal and transverse bars together, each ofthe said longitudinal bars having notches vformed therein in the upperedge thereof and the said notches providing a safety tread upon and asan integral part of the said grating, and means for attaching the saidgrating to a supporting structure.

3. Arunning board comprising a grating including longitudinal andtransverse bars, and spaced supporting saddles, said longitudinal barshaving slots formed therein receiving the said transverse bars anddeforming the lower edges of the latter so as to interconnect the saidlongitudinal and transverse bars together, said saddles having similarslots formed therein receiving and deforming said longitudinal bars,said saddles comprising channels disposed with their anges THOMAS .1.JOYCE; "rHoMAs w. DELANTY.

